Toray Industries, Inc. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiro Nikkaku; hereinafter referred to as “Toray”) announced today that it had developed a clear aramid film that is as hard as glass and can withstand a bending radius of 1 mm. The developed material is expected to be applied in a wide range of fields such as optical films for flexible displays and transparent circuit boards. Toray has already established the technology on a pilot scale and will drive forward discussions aimed at mass production.
The development of foldable and rollable displays is gathering pace in recent years, which has led to requirement for films with high hardness and flexibility that can replace the glass used for the cover window, the top most layer of display.
Aramid is a super engineering plastic with excellent hardness and heat resistance and Toray’s aramid film mictron® is the only commercially available aramid film in the world. Based on this technology, the company employed its proprietary polymer design and membrane forming technology and developed the colorless and transparent aramid film with high hardness and heat resistance.
Further, it treated the surface of the clear aramid film with specially designed process to realize ultra-high hardness of 9H and bending resistance that can withstand bending of more than 1 million times at a bending radius of 1 mm. Using this film as cover window is expected to realize thin and highly designable flexible display with scratch-resistance as good as glass.
The key technological points of the material are as follows:
